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Mica says agencies 'thwarting' proposed FTC relocation

By
Jack Moore

Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Oversight's Subcommittee on
Government Operations, vowed Tuesday to block the General Services Administration
from moving the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the
Humanities out of the Old Post Office Building and into new leased space in
Southwest Washington, D.C.

But Mica's ire has little to do with either the NEH or the NEA or GSA's plans to
redevelop the Old Post Office with an assist from Donald Trump.

At issue is a years-long effort by Mica to relocate the Federal Trade Commission
out of the historic "Apex" building on Pennsylvania Avenue and into privately
leased space in a building known as the Constitution Center at 400 7th St. SW. The
regulatory agency's departure would make room for an expansion of the National
Gallery of Art, per Mica's proposal.

FTC is currently consolidating two satellite offices into the Constitution Center.
But both the FTC and GSA say there isn't enough space in the building —
especially not with the addition of NEA and NEH — to also shift FTC
headquarters there.

"Even if all the FTC's D.C. operations could be fit in (the building's remaining
space), the costs to the American taxpayers would be prohibitive," he said.

As Mica sees it, however, the FTC and GSA are simply "thwarting" the move.

GSA: NEH and NEA need to be moved out of Old Post Office

GSA has been looking to fill space at Constitution Center since 2011, after the
Securities and Exchange Commission closed on a deal to lease space there but ended
up not needing as much space as initially thought. GSA took on the authority to
fill the building's remaining vacancies in 2011.

Chris Wisner, GSA's assistant commissioner in the Public Buildings Service's
Office of Leasing, said GSA first began looking at moving NEH and NEA into space
at Constitution Center in July 2012, a few months after GSA selected the Trump
Organization to develop the Old Post Office Building, which currently houses the
two small agencies, into a hotel.

The NEH-NEA move into Constitution Center is about 35 percent complete and on
track to be completed by March, Wisner said. At that time, both agencies need to
be out of the Old Post Office Building or GSA will incur penalties of about $1
million a month, under the terms of the Trump deal

Mica, however, questioned why GSA decided to move NEH and NEA into Constitution
Center and wondered whether it wasn't to deliberately to "thwart" his proposed FTC
move.

He said he planned to find some way to block the two agencies' move into the
center, including by legislation appended to an appropriations bill.

"I'm going to look at every avenue," he told Federal News Radio in a brief
interview after Tuesday's hearing.

Mica said he also wants GSA to provide a list of other alternative available
spaces in the Washington region, both federally owned and leased, that the two
small agencies could be relocated to, instead of the Constitution Center.

His renewed effort to move the agency out of its historic headquarters comes as
the FTC is already moving a handful of its offices out of two privately leased
spaces — one at New Jersey Avenue and the other at M Street — to the
Constitution Center.

The new space will host 905 employees and contractors at about 119 square feet per
employee, a reduction from current utilization rates of 167 square feet per
employee, FTC testified.

But the agency draws the line at moving headquarters.

For one thing, GSA has determined that the FTC needs a minimum of about 446,000
square feet for its entire space needs in the D.C. region, according to Wisner's
testimony